21 réponses à ce sujet

[-Zorph-]

Basically the title sums up this post, but I am starting a new playthrough and calling it my 'first' because my other one was only like 5 hours in but I didn't know what I was doing so he is all screwed up as far as skills and stats and what-not.

Alright, so I am planning on either making a Warrior or Mage, and leaning towards Warrior.

I want to know what you guys think would be better for a first playthrough. I am assuming Warrior because it has less of a learning curve, but I may be wrong.

This leads to my next point... I don't know what kind of Warrior to be.  I've heard if I want to dual-wield and deal DPS my best bet would be a Rogue, but I would rather not play a Rogue. I have also heard that 2-handers are decent at best.

So this all leads me to believe I should be a SnS Tank (sword and shield).

What do you guys think a fun Warrior is for my first playthrough as a Warrior?

Also, if you guys so Mage, what do you advise speccing him with?

I know this a lot of questions and I probably seem like a High Maintenace Noob, which is exactly what I am.

Sorry.

Any help is highly appreciated, thanks guys!

Modifié par -Zorph-, 01 juillet 2010 - 11:25 .

[Merci357]

Honestly, pick the one you like, everything goes, since your party members can cover for everything your PC can't do. Alistair or Shale make fine tanks (shield warrior), Morrigan can learn some basic healing until you get Wynne (she's a dedicated healer, but you don't need one, just makes things more easy), and Leliana can open chests and disarm traps.



So to complement those, a 2H warrior works well, decent damage, but combined with Champion specialisation and maybe the Power of Blood abilities also many CC/stun tools at hand to disable enemy mages quick.



If you don't want to micromanage your party very often and pause/issue orders, try to get used to the tactics screen and adjust your party members to the behaviour you'd like them to do.



Something to consider, maybe not for the 1st playthrough, is an Arcane Warrior, if you can't decide between caster and warrior, this is an (awesome) middle ground. But since you need to discover and unlock this specialisation first, maybe just keep it in mind for later.

[-Zorph-]

Merci357 wrote...

Honestly, pick the one you like, everything goes, since your party members can cover for everything your PC can't do. Alistair or Shale make fine tanks (shield warrior), Morrigan can learn some basic healing until you get Wynne (she's a dedicated healer, but you don't need one, just makes things more easy), and Leliana can open chests and disarm traps.

So to complement those, a 2H warrior works well, decent damage, but combined with Champion specialisation and maybe the Power of Blood abilities also many CC/stun tools at hand to disable enemy mages quick.

If you don't want to micromanage your party very often and pause/issue orders, try to get used to the tactics screen and adjust your party members to the behaviour you'd like them to do.

Something to consider, maybe not for the 1st playthrough, is an Arcane Warrior, if you can't decide between caster and warrior, this is an (awesome) middle ground. But since you need to discover and unlock this specialisation first, maybe just keep it in mind for later.

Yeah I have heard a lot about this "Arcane Warrior", but like I said for my first playthrough I want something a bit more simplistic and mainstream.

I want to play a Mage and a Warrior eventually, but obviously I can only start with one so I am wondering the best one for a beginner to get the feel for the game and at the same time have a blast.

I am trying to decide between more of a sword and shield tank warrior, to a DW warrior who focuses on damage. I am not sure which is more fun or which is better suited for my first run.

Also, can Alistair be a DW or a 2H user, or is he only good at sword and board tanking?

[soteria]

I've played all four warrior builds and they're all pretty strong, really. Well, the one thing I don't really recommend is playing an archer. They can be decently powerful, but they're pretty boring to play and are generally considered weak for good reason. I wouldn't worry too much about the mage being too "complicated" to pick up for a beginner... gameplay itself is pretty simple. The most complicated thing about playing a mage is the spell combos, and they aren't that tricky (if you follow the link in my signature you can find a video on how to use them, among other things).

For choosing between mage vs warrior: do you mind pausing the game frequently? To get the most out of the mage, you're going to have to pause to aim spells properly. In general, pausing to assess the situation occasionally is a good idea, but mages require more of that. If you don't mind pausing, the mage is probably more powerful than the warrior.

Alistair can be decent at dw or 2h but it takes a while to develop those skills if you don't use the respec mod to change his talents.

If you're looking for general build advice, the sticky at the top of the forum has some good guides (dkjestrup's guide is great, though the gear recommendations have been outdated if you use DLC). If you just want my opinion, of the warriors, I had the most fun playing 2h.

[Mr_Steph]

I love playing as a DW warrior myself. Having 2 longswords and dual striking is awesome.



This is my latest DW warrior and she was insanely powerful. Riposte would kill most mages in one go and archers would fall in 2 hits. The rest usually fell in 3-4 hits and she attacks very fast. I had quite a few points in dex so that she wouldn't be hit that much and it paid off.



Dual sweep and flurry are very good abilities as well imo.



http://social.biowar...na_id=224812973

[Jestina]

Warriors are good for starting but rogues are really awesome once you learn how to play them. Combat stealth and backstabbing...lots of fun. Plus as a rogue you don't have to rely on others as much since you can do lock picking yourself.



As warrior dual wielding is the most fun. You can be the warrior that brings the pain and just keep Alistair as the S&S tank. Once you can specialize, i'd suggest champion which I think is unlocked by doing Redcliffe.

[MindYerBeak]

No matter what type of character you become, unless you're good with the Tactics screen, you'll still need to micro the Mage, so you may as well become one in the first place. If you don't have an AW/Blood Mage in your team the battles will become long drawn out affairs and tedious. An AW will shorten the battle considerably. An AW is virtually invincible in massive armour, and can use sword'n'shield or dual weild. Once you have an AW in your team, your tank will seem like a wimp. Pit your toughest tank up against an Arcane Warrior and your tank is dead meat. Fast. You have the added advantage of being able to cast spells as well.

It's not difficult being a Mage. Just select the spells you fancy, you don't need to set it all in stone. The only spells you really do need are Cone of Cold and Glyph of Paralysis. Add Fireball to them and you're in business.

An AW V Alistair battle:

AW casts Cone of Cold.
Alistair immobile.
AW goes Whack, Whack, Whack!
Alistair goes "Owtch! Owtch! Owtch!"
Alistair recovers.
AW casts Glyph of Paralysis.
Alistair paralysed.
AW goes Whack, Whack, Whack!
Alistair goes "Owtch! Owtch! Owtch!"
Alistair recovers.
AW casts Blood Wound.
Alistair goes "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!"
Alistair dead as a doornail.

Simples.

Modifié par MindYerBeak, 02 juillet 2010 - 02:59 .

[electricfish]

For a first playthrough, a sword and shield warrior will give you a nice middle ground between damage and protection. Compared to a mage, you won't have such a difficult time picking talents, and the shield talents you get are fairly straightforward compared to two-handed or dual-wield. Archery can be a bit difficult to really make it shine, so you should first experiment with Leliana since she is the archer companion.



As a sword and shield, you'll have access to all the nice armor, a variety of weapons, and many shields that also give bonuses. You can use the simplicity of the build to experiment with other areas of the game, such as the herbalism or poison making skill.



My own first playthrough was a sword and shield warrior, and I learned a lot about what different weapon and armor effects do, what item sets mean, and how to find a balance between say, heavy shields and medium armor, or small shields and heavier armor.

[-Zorph-]

Zorr Crew wrote...

For a first playthrough, a sword and shield warrior will give you a nice middle ground between damage and protection. Compared to a mage, you won't have such a difficult time picking talents, and the shield talents you get are fairly straightforward compared to two-handed or dual-wield. Archery can be a bit difficult to really make it shine, so you should first experiment with Leliana since she is the archer companion.

As a sword and shield, you'll have access to all the nice armor, a variety of weapons, and many shields that also give bonuses. You can use the simplicity of the build to experiment with other areas of the game, such as the herbalism or poison making skill.

My own first playthrough was a sword and shield warrior, and I learned a lot about what different weapon and armor effects do, what item sets mean, and how to find a balance between say, heavy shields and medium armor, or small shields and heavier armor.

Awesome thanks for the post.

I think I am either going to make a Mage or a sword and board Warrior.

Thanks for your input, off to go slay some Darkspawn.

*Edit* What is this Respec Mod people keep speaking of, and does it have any conflicts with the game and/or a lot of bugs?
Also, on a side note: What are some other highly recommended mods?

Modifié par -Zorph-, 02 juillet 2010 - 03:50 .

[Liliandra Nadiar]

http://social.bioware.com/project/469/ is the respec mod for Origins. One of the best mods to come out IMO. No conflicts with anything I've found. Either the base game, DLCs or other mods.



As far as other mods I use:



http://social.bioware.com/project/861/ Advanced Tactics. Refine the tactics tab/instructions for party members. Occasionally causes invisible objects in Awakenings.



http://social.bioware.com/project/791/ Out of combat Helm Removal. QoL mod. Doesn't do anything except equip/unequip helms for party members. Occasionally glitches who gets what if there was a party order change between combat.



http://social.bioware.com/project/1300 Faster Bow Talents

Makes archery talents fire faster, so /everyone/ (you, party, enemy) with a bow talent doesn't spend two-three auto-attacks to make a single attack.



http://social.bioware.com/project/852/ Weapon Rebalance (2H, Archery, DW)

Adjusts above active talents to be more competitive with SnS tree.

http://social.biowar...m/project/1626/ Hairstyles, Hair Color, Skin Tones, Eye Colors

http://social.bioware.com/project/580/ Dr.DJ's Teeth Whiten

Purely cosmetic mods. More options for hair/skin/eye colors and hair styles and the other gets rid of everyone having brown/black teeth.



http://social.bioware.com/project/966/ Trailer Edition

Changes face models of Sten, Morrigan, Leliana to more closely match their video counterparts in the Urn of Sacred Ashes trailer. Also adds a merchant to the party camp with some strong/boarderline overpowered gear.



Take a stroll through the Projects pages. Lots of things out there. Some blatantly overpowered gear, some new areas, some tweaks to game mechanics. Lots there.

[Elhanan]

My fave Sword & Shield build was with a Rogue.

I found the S&S warrior to be fairly dull compared to other classes and warriors, but it is a good character class to play to learn the game, as you can easily leave this one to manage other characters.

You may find the DW warrior more involved, as there are a few more active talents in which to use. And the runes placed in your weapons can also make for a fun challenge, as there are many good options.

[soteria]

For a first playthrough, I don't recommend any mods except the respec mod. Once you've played the game you'll know better what you like and what you don't, and you can decide what parts of the game you think you want to tweak from there.

If you play the warrior, you want 42 strength for armor, 28 dexterity for talents, and enough cunning for any skills you want. Beyond that, any combination of dex/str will make a great warrior. Raise dex to make yourself tougher, or raise strength to get more oomph from talents and deal more damage, or raise both equally. Whatever suits your fancy. As long as you're not putting points in con/will/mag, you'll do well.

If you choose mage, just go pure magic or mag:will in a 2:1 ratio. Regardless, I recommend dumping everything in magic early on until you meet most talent requirements. Mage talens are easier to choose than you might think. You'll want at least one line of primal spells for damage (I like fire and cold best), a healing spell or two, and crowd control. For any mage mind blast -> crushing prison is useful, and the glyph spells are great. The entropy spells are good, but if you're bringing Morrigan just know that she already has points in those and you may not want to overlap. If you're looking at spell combos, imo the two most useful in the game are Shatter (get cone of cold for that) and paralysis explosion. Paralysis explosion is a large aoe paralysis that hits everyone, including allies, but is basically unresistable. It's a great way to open a fight.

[-Zorph-]

soteria wrote...

For a first playthrough, I don't recommend any mods except the respec mod. Once you've played the game you'll know better what you like and what you don't, and you can decide what parts of the game you think you want to tweak from there.
If you play the warrior, you want 42 strength for armor, 28 dexterity for talents, and enough cunning for any skills you want. Beyond that, any combination of dex/str will make a great warrior. Raise dex to make yourself tougher, or raise strength to get more oomph from talents and deal more damage, or raise both equally. Whatever suits your fancy. As long as you're not putting points in con/will/mag, you'll do well.
If you choose mage, just go pure magic or mag:will in a 2:1 ratio. Regardless, I recommend dumping everything in magic early on until you meet most talent requirements. Mage talens are easier to choose than you might think. You'll want at least one line of primal spells for damage (I like fire and cold best), a healing spell or two, and crowd control. For any mage mind blast -> crushing prison is useful, and the glyph spells are great. The entropy spells are good, but if you're bringing Morrigan just know that she already has points in those and you may not want to overlap. If you're looking at spell combos, imo the two most useful in the game are Shatter (get cone of cold for that) and paralysis explosion. Paralysis explosion is a large aoe paralysis that hits everyone, including allies, but is basically unresistable. It's a great way to open a fight.

So what are some good AoE spells to jump on right away? I have Cone of Cold right now, probably getting Blizzard.

[Elhanan]

Fireball, Mental Blast, Glyph combo, and CoC are ones I like, and Sleep seems to be a popular fave for many. The large area effect spells are less used by me due to Friendly Fire issues, but nice for the right areas.

[yasuraka.hakkyou]

fireball is great, blizzard + tempest (electricity line) + spell might in the Spirit school is a massive storm of death. works best IMO if you can block off a bottleneck with it going.



mana clash one-shots mages, but the only other worthy spell in that line is the aforementioned Spell Might. Virulent Walking Bomb could be considered AoE, and I like it.

[MindYerBeak]

When it comes to having fun with characters ingame I find the Mage/Rogue to be my favourites. It's fun watching a Baddie run down a hill and being fireballed on the way down. It's fun laying Inferno at a checkpoint and watching the Baddies try to run through it. It's fun sending an arrow whizzing towards a Baddie using stealth and watching him fall on his bum. It's fun laying a grease trap at a door, then Cold Coning them. It's fun under stealth to throw a bomb into the Baddie's midst. It's fun backstabbing a Baddie under stealth, then stealthing again for the next victim. A Rogue with 4 points in stealth can do a lot of damage to a group of Baddies lying in wait for your party. I don't seem to have the same fun factor with a tank.

[-Zorph-]

Thank for all the advise, keep it coming! It's very helpful.

[MindYerBeak]

Spell Might, Blizzard and Tempest is better for Storm of the Century. You'll become a walking God and the Darkspawn will call you Jesus.

[-Zorph-]

So what spell "paths" should I stick to, Ice and Fire and what else?



I just don't want to screw it up, even though I have Respec Mod installed...

[soteria]

I'd also take the first three glyph spells, Heal (if not Rejuvenation as well), Mind Blast and Force Field, and possibly Sleep. If you go with the blood mage spec, you can use blood wound in the place of sleep, but only at a high level. Storm of the Century (Blizzard + Spell Might + Tempest) is powerful but highly overrated, imo, and it lends itself most easily to cheese.

I highly recommend the glyph spells because they give crowd control that is *always* useful, plus glyph of warding which is pretty strong, as well. Glyph of Repulsion would be worth taking for the giggles even if it weren't so powerful.

The truth is, very few mage spells are "duds."  The main risk is taking too many spells that fill the same role or not enough to accomplish a certain task or not enough variety to handle certain situations.  For example, at times spells like mind blast, blood wound, and sleep are clinch spells that will keep you alive, but against golems or fade spirits they're useless.

Modifié par soteria, 02 juillet 2010 - 11:32 .

[-Zorph-]

soteria wrote...

I'd also take the first three glyph spells, Heal (if not Rejuvenation as well), Mind Blast and Force Field, and possibly Sleep. If you go with the blood mage spec, you can use blood wound in the place of sleep, but only at a high level. Storm of the Century (Blizzard + Spell Might + Tempest) is powerful but highly overrated, imo, and it lends itself most easily to cheese.

I highly recommend the glyph spells because they give crowd control that is *always* useful, plus glyph of warding which is pretty strong, as well. Glyph of Repulsion would be worth taking for the giggles even if it weren't so powerful.

The truth is, very few mage spells are "duds."  The main risk is taking too many spells that fill the same role or not enough to accomplish a certain task or not enough variety to handle certain situations.  For example, at times spells like mind blast, blood wound, and sleep are clinch spells that will keep you alive, but against golems or fade spirits they're useless.

Awesome, I watched many of your videos as well. They gave me some combat ideas and advise and it was really helpful, I especially liked the Spell Combo one.

P.S. Are you Canadian? Your accent makes me believe so.

[soteria]

Glad they helped you--that's why I made them. But no, I'm actually American.